Thayer Loses One, Gains Three –

Thayer Capital Partners shook up its offices in July with the appointment of Scott Rued to the position of managing partner. Dick Snell and Jim Forese were also brought on board as senior advisors. At the same time, Rick Rickertsen stepped down from his position as managing partner and COO. He will now assist the firm as a senior advisor.

“It’s increasingly important to have meaningful operating experience in working with portfolio companies and in the assessment of investments,” Thayer Managing Partner Dan Dickinson said. “I think it’s a reality in the private equity industry now-for our portfolio and others-is you need to add value post closing to generate attractive returns.”

Rued comes to Thayer from Hidden Creek Industries, an industrial manufacturing-focused acquisition vehicle, where he served as CEO and president. During his time at HCI, which he founded in 1989, Rued led the acquisitions and development of Automotive Industries, Tower Automotive and Dura Automotive, among others.

Snell formerly occupied the chairman and CEO seats at Federal Mogul. Prior to that he was the CEO of Tenneco Automotive. Forese was previously the chairman and CEO of IKON Office Solutions and also served for more than 35 years at IBM Corp.

Dickinson downplayed the idea that the moves signal a shift in strategy at the firm, although he said Thayer would benefit from the new hires’ experience in certain sectors. “We’ve always taken a very industry-focused approach to investing in the middle market…We’re not changing that, although [the additions] will sharpen our focus in certain industrial sectors.”

Rickertsen Steps Down

Dickinson reaffirmed that Rickertsen’s move to step down as COO and managing partner was in line with Thayer’s intention to “add more senior level operation capabilities at the firm.”

The personnel moves follow a disappointing fund-raising effort from the Washington-based firm, in which Thayer collected just one-third of its anticipated target for Thayer Equity Investors V, LP. The firm originally had a $1 billion target for its fifth fund. After nearly 20 months of fund raising, with Merrill Lynch & Co. as its placement agent, the fund held its final close earlier this year on a mere $300 million. That total represents a significant decline from Thayer’s fourth fund, TEI IV, which closed in 1999 with $880 million.

However, Dickinson brushed off any connection between the latest fund-raising effort and the decision to replace Rickertsen as managing partner. “Regardless of where the fund size ended up, we recognized that we needed to add operating experience,” he said.

Thayer is still investing out of its Thayer Equity Investors IV fund, which as of late 2002 was roughly 70% to 75% invested. Thayer’s most recent transaction was the acquisition of Sunburst Technology from Houghton Mifflin at the end of 2002.